D&D 5E Group new to 5E - what should we know?

[Ebony Dragon]

My long-time D&D group is switching over from Pathfinder to 5th edition for our new campaign starting next week. We tend to play these campaigns for quite a long while (1-2 years), so I want to get things right as far as designing my character and making sure the group is diverse enough to cover the needed adventuring roles. There will be 6 PCs.

What advice can more experienced players give as we figure out what characters to play in our first game?

Are there any good printed character sheets out there yet? I searched through Reddit and didn't find much beyond this one, which is good enough but I expected to find a lot more. What do you use for a character sheet?

How important is it to have a character in the group who can cast healing magic? Is a Ranger good enough at covering that role or will we need more healing? I am worried about the ramifications of no more "magic item shops" and so being unable to buy wands of CLW to cover a party that has a lack of healing spells like you could in 3.X edition.

Can a Warlock cover the arcane caster role of a group, or is his spell/day too limited for that? How important is it to even have an arcane caster?

Any other advice/tips for someone coming from Pathfinder to 5E?

 

[trentonjoe]

A character with the HEALER feat can play the role of the healing magic guy, as can a druid. The Life Cleric is obviously the best at it. Having your ranger be the primary healer probably isn't going to be enough if you're use to using wands of CLW's. I mean you certainly can run a game without a dedicated healer but it doesn't sound like that's your style.

A warlock can fill the "Wizard" niche pretty effectively in my opinion.

 

[mach1.9pants]

You must forget what you have learned grass hopper!

In 5e you regain all your HP after a long rest ( read nights sleep), this pretty much obviate the need for the horrid CLW wand idea. You can also spend your HD ( which have two meanings in fifth) after a short rest regain HP. Fighters have self healing, second wind, etc. So you do not need a healer, but it can be helpful and in fight healing is actually worthwhile, sometimes.

You also don't need a rogue as anyone can be proficient in those skills, it is much more flexible than 3e etc, although a focused rogue or bard does a better job.

 

[Paraxis]

The healer role can be filled by a few different ways at the lower levels, but when it isn't just about getting h.p back but removing status effects and bringing back the dead you still need a full support caster. Bard, Cleric, and Druid can all do this though so there is still a variety.

The healer feat is a great substitute for having wands of CLW, 1d6+4+targets level (or HD) between every short rest adds up to a lot of healing.

Warlocks are basically magical ranged warriors more than they are wizards.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Good point about status effects, I haven't played high enough level yet for that to be a real consideration. Our party is two fighters, a ranger and a cleric, so not many traditional roles covered there!

 

[Gecko85]

Bard is awesome in 5e, and can help out with healing. Since our group also has a cleric, my bard is more focused on support, softening, and ranged combat.

You don't need a rogue, but they're pretty awesome, so why not?

If you're running published adventures, you may need to adjust the encounters to account for a party of 6. For most adventures, a party of 4 is enough.

Be prepared for combat to go quicker...Also, some encounters may be deadly at low levels, so role playing to get out of a sticky situation becomes necessary.

 

[Gadget]

My long-time D&D group is switching over from Pathfinder to 5th edition for our new campaign starting next week. We tend to play these campaigns for quite a long while (1-2 years), so I want to get things right as far as designing my character and making sure the group is diverse enough to cover the needed adventuring roles. There will be 6 PCs.

What advice can more experienced players give as we figure out what characters to play in our first game?

Depending on how much you have been following the play test and 5e and general, I would strongly suggest that you play around with it a little first, before settling into a long campaign. Only you can really asses how your play style meshes with the features of the new system. Despite some similarities, 5e was written with different design goals than 3.x and although it can be played in a similar manner, it does not support (IMHO) the exact same play styles as well as 3e does. There will be some adjustment.

How important is it to have a character in the group who can cast healing magic? Is a Ranger good enough at covering that role or will we need more healing? I am worried about the ramifications of no more "magic item shops" and so being unable to buy wands of CLW to cover a party that has a lack of healing spells like you could in 3.X edition.

5e is not as dependent on healing magic as 3.x, IMHO. It was actually designed to not need the CLW stick (as you seem to be one of the few people I have heard who has not expressed disgust at that tactic or the necessity of using it), healing magic, or magic items. However, having a full healing, such as: Cleric, Druid, or Bard, does make a difference. There are also optional rules in the DMG to adjust the healing rate to suit play style.

Can a Warlock cover the arcane caster role of a group, or is his spell/day too limited for that? How important is it to even have an arcane caster?

I would say, no a warlock does not slot into a wizard role easily; at least not as easily as a sorcerer. That is not to say that it could not be done, just that Warlock tend to specialize in ranged damage and/or stealth/deception, or a bit of melee, depending on the subclass and build options chosen.

Any other advice/tips for someone coming from Pathfinder to 5E?

5e was designed to cut back on the 'fiddly bits' involved in the last couple of editions of D&D while still giving the giving the core, traditional "feel" of D&D. As such, it is designed for a smoother, faster play experience, with perhaps less options and more DM adjudication than many 3.x style games. It tends to focus on the overall experience, rather than be focused so much on the min/max numbers (though min/max is still very doable) and build. Concepts like 'bounded accuracy' attempt to keep the numbers down and within a narrower range, but options are available to the DM to upset these numbers, if that is the way the group wants to go.

 

[Pickles JG]

How important is it to have a character in the group who can cast healing magic? Is a Ranger good enough at covering that role or will we need more healing? I am worried about the ramifications of no more "magic item shops" and so being unable to buy wands of CLW to cover a party that has a lack of healing spells like you could in 3.X edition.

Can a Warlock cover the arcane caster role of a group, or is his spell/day too limited for that? How important is it to even have an arcane caster?

Any other advice/tips for someone coming from Pathfinder to 5E?

Healing magic is helpful but not essential, you can cover it with rests & the Healer feat if you want to or just chance it. Ranger will probably provide enough spot healing for combat if they want to take time of hitting things but will not be able to extend the day the way the hard core healers can - cleric bard & druid. You are far more robust in this game than e (well from about 3rd level on) & are unlikely to die just because you are a few HP down.

Warlock can not cover the versatility of a wizard but they can probably pick one thing the wizard might want to do & do it very well.

The adventuring roles are less tied to class then ever with many skills coming from Backgrounds so out of combat you can get good coverage with any mix of characters though for example if you have a Bard or Paladin they will naturally be good "face" characters etc.

In combat everyone can do damage but you probably want a few characters who can take a hit & some who can provide ranged firepower but its pretty flexible what the mix is.

 

[Psikerlord#]

If you use the optional injuries table, you will need magical healing to fix some injuries. Just the healer feat wont be enough.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Also realize that the *number* of opponents you are facing matters much more in this edition than in 3e/Pathfinder. Lower level foes can remain relevant at higher levels in larger numbers. This goes both ways. A party of 6 characters is significantly more effective than a party of 4, or even 5. It actually is considered to be bumped into a higher category as far as assessing difficulty of encounters (DMG or DMs basic rules explains how that works).

So if you want to maintain the sort of expected challenge with 6 characters you will likely need to increase the number of opponents to compensate. Throwing in some henchmen and minions for tougher monsters helps with that.